2011 PBA DRAFT: PETRON BLAZE BOOSTERS – WHAT THEY NEED

(This is the first of ten
articles called What They Need. Last
year, I made a version where we called out a PBA team’s roster and pick out the
slots they need to shore up. Most of these deficiencies are addressed via the
draft.)

Oh
hail the grand slam spoilers! Petron looked lost at the middle of the season
because of their rebuilding. In an instant, Danny Ildefonso is all that’s left of the early 2000’s core that
gave the team a slew of gold. Gone from the squad are Danny Seigle, Dorian Pena, Dondon Hontiveros, and recent addition Paul Artadi while gaining veteran Sunday Salvacion, Barako Bull loans Jojo Duncil, Lordy Tugade (he started
the season with San Miguel though), and Paolo
Hubalde, and the first, second, and third pick overall in the 2010 PBA Draft in Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao, and Rey Guevarra.

And
then there’s the retirement of Olsen
Racela and the hiring of Ato Agustin
as chief mentor.

CENTERS: The reason behind the Seigle/Hontiveros trade was to build up
their frontline of the future. When they were still San Miguel, this position
was a dead scoring spot with Dorian Pena
and Mick Pennisi at the helm. Sure
they have Nonoy Baclao but the trade
brought them rookie phenom Rabeh
Al-Hussaini. Besides, they still have Arwind
Santos, Jay Washington, and Danny Ildefonso who can still play this
spot.

FORWARDS: They have size – and that is
one thing that’s working for them. Santos is an all-around player that can play
the small forward spot with ease. Sunday Salvacion is also a brilliant SF but
maybe they need another real SF in the mix.

GUARDS: In terms of point guards, the
team is stacked with pass-first guards like Alex Cabagnot and Denok Miranda.
Olsen Racela would still play an important role with the squad IF he was still
playing. At the start of the season they had Dondon Hontiveros but now they
have Joseph Yeo and Rey Guevarra manning the slasher spot. I think Jojo Duncil
is a free agent but I think Paolo Hubalde and Lordy Tugade are Barako Bull (now
Shopinas) loans.

WHO
SHOULD THEY PICK?

The
best player they can get in the draft should be situated in their PG, SG, and
SF spots. Picking eighth, the Blaze Boosters can claim Marcio Lassiter, JV Casio, Mac Baracael, and Chris Lutz but I doubt
their availability at this point. In terms of SG/SF the best player to pick is Dylan Ababou. The guy is a top scorer
back in college and unless Rajko Toroman
dismantled that thought from his head, I can sense that he’ll claim scoring
chores when he enters the team.

Eric Salamat is a combo guard despite his
size and he could be in some ways do damage. To a lesser extent, there is still
Reil Cervantes. Some people are
saying that a father-son tandem in Ato
Agustin and Marc Agustin is in
the mix. While the younger Agustin is a SG/SF, I can’t see Petron wasting their
eighth pick when there is still a Smart-Gilas player in the draft.